Responses to Sounds in the Central Auditory System of the Frog: An Advanced Electrophysiology Laboratory in Sensory Processing
Frogs rely upon vocal communication to advertise for potential mates, to defend territory and to alarm neighbors of danger. Cells in the auditory midbrain of an awake frog display tuning to the spectral energy present in calls based upon discharge rate and encode the temporal properties of calls in the timing of their discharges. This […]
Habituation as a mechanism of reduced aggression between neighboring territorial male bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana)
Territorial animals often exhibit relatively lower levels of aggression toward familiar territorial neighbors than toward strangers. Habituation to a neighbor or its communication signals has been proposed to account for this reduced aggression between adjacent territorial neighbors. The authors asked whether discrimination between neighbors and strangers by territorial male bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) could result from […]
Habituation and sensitization of aggression in bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana): Testing the dual-process theory of habituation
The aggressive response of male bullfrogs ( Rana catesbeiana) habituates with repeated broadcasts of acoustic stimuli simulating a new territorial neighbor. The effects of stimulus repetition rate and stimulus intensity on bullfrog aggressive responses were tested in a field experiment designed to test the assumptions of a dual-process theory of habituation. Synthetic advertisement calls were […]